Witness ties school choice to taxpayer savings

AUSTIN - Introducing more school choice to parents could save Texas billions of dollars and result in higher pay for public school teachers, a witness testified Tuesday in the lawsuit trial of the state's school finance system.

More than 600 Texas school districts in four groups are suing the state over what they term inadequate and unequal state funding.

Joseph Bast, president and CEO of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, is a witness for Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education, or TREE, a group led by former state Rep. Kent Grusendorf that is not a plaintiff but was permitted by state District Judge John Dietz to present testimony.

Bast said a taxpayer savings grant program similar to education vouchers would benefit low-income families who could put grant money toward paying for private school tuition.

"If you're low-income, you're pretty much trapped in the public school that's in your direct area," he said.

Bast estimated that such a grant program would spur about 6 percent of students in Texas public schools to move to private schools, a number he arrived at by evaluating similar programs, including the now-defunct CEO Horizon voucher program in San Antonio's Edgewood Independent School District.

He said the state saves $7,750 each time a child leaves the public system and, therefore, "the program actually benefits the public schools." He estimated the annual savings would be about $2 billion.

The state's previous failure to act on such a proposal "is evidence of the inefficiency of public schools," Bast said.

Asked by TREE attorney Christopher Diamond about the impact of school choice programs on teachers, Bast said "mainstream economic thinking" predicts that the resulting competition drives up teacher pay, as much as $12,000 per year in "a metropolitan area like Houston."

He also said neither of two reports he co-authored, which were entered into evidence, had been peer-reviewed.

David Thompson, attorney for another group of school districts, later pointed out that the Legislative Budget Board concluded that the taxpayer savings grant proposal would cost the state money in its first two years of operation. Bast acknowledged that he and the budget board arrived at different conclusions on this point.

"To your knowledge, no government entity in the state of Texas has ever agreed with your analysis of savings, is that correct?" Thompson asked.

"Apparently," Bast replied.

The court also heard from Robyn Wolters, Irving ISD director of human resources, who said state requirements make it time consuming and expensive to fire teachers. Teachers must compile documentation, plus legal and other expenses often are incurred, Wolters said.

Under cross-examination by attorneys for the state and plaintiffs' groups, Wolters said her experience is limited to Irving ISD. She said she does not handle invoices but a colleague in the finance department told her about the expenses.